Exhortation from Fr. Marinko

THE WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT OF FR. MARINKO SAKOTA Praised be Jesus and Mary! Dear friends of Medjugorje, dear brothers and sisters throughout the world, all of you who are connected with Medjugorje through spirituality that our Heavenly Mother Mary, the Queen of Peace brings us here, I greet you all from the depth of my heart and wish to say a few words to you. Today, on the Solemnity of St. Joseph, we receive a message for all of us in this situation, and it is the message from life of St. Joseph and life of Mary. So, we wonder, what is the situation of Joseph? He is in a very difficult situation! He is to take Mary as his wife and she is now pregnant. He knows the child is not his and it is a very difficult situation, he does not know what to do! Joseph struggles, yet he is righteous for he does not remain with his own plans, thoughts and desires. He does not think that the only right thing is what he thinks, but he is opened. He is opened to God’s plans, God’s perspective. When the angel says to him: “Joseph, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife!”, he believes to the angel and he takes Mary to be his wife. These words are so important today, dear friends, words important for us all and those words are: “Do not be afraid!” Angel says those words to Mary too: “Mary, do not be afraid! The Lord is with you!” Those are the words angel says to Joseph: “Do not be afraid!” And the Lord says the same words to us too! Do not be afraid! Of course, there is fear, fear is also justified, we need to be careful, to take care and to be disciplined. We need to maintain the hygiene and this is also right and very important. However, we cannot do that in anxiety and in fear, but in faith! We need to have faith that the Lord is with us and we are His and all shall be well! This situation is a great opportunity for us, we can take it as something tragic, and in a way it is something hard, of course it is hard, but this is opportunity for us to get closer to Jesus. This is opportunity to return to God, to return to prayer, family, to those true values. When everything is good, we forget about God. When all is good, we only seek for pleasure, entertainment, things that are good in material way and we forget what is needed, the only thing we need, what Jesus says to Martha, the only important thing! Now, this is that moment! In this time we ask ourselves and we seek only for that one thing. Only that is important to us, to survive. We Christians do not observe in that sense, that this is the one thing, but we want to live with Christ. Now and in eternity! Now to live with Christ! This is opportunity dear friends to pray the Rosary, to grasp the Rosary in our hands. Our Lady teaches us that the strength is in the Rosary, let us grasp the Rosary! Read the Word of God, fast, climb Apparition Hill, Cross Mountain, or in our own places to find way how to pray individually or in families, on our knees. Open your hands and open your heart to the Lord. Pray to Him that He may strengthen your faith, to strengthen your trust in Him, to increase your love and fortify your hope! Pray to Him that the love of God may reign in your heart, that He may open your heart to get to know His love, the love of the Merciful Father who loves you unconditionally, to open to that sun and the warmth of His love.